Wildlife matters

Production of white rhinoceroses

4 August 2015

Historically the white rhinoceros Ceratotherium simum simum did not occur south of the Orange River. In southern Africa the eastern boundary of occurrence was the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the western boundary was the north-eastern parts of Namibia and the northern boundary was the Zambezi River. More than 90 per cent of all white rhinoceroses now occur in South Africa. In the middle 1950s there were only 30 white rhinoceroses left in South Africa. Due in part to intensive breeding and reintroductions, there are now in excess of 10 000 but they are being heavily threatened by poachers.